A 4 1/2 Month Scupper on Lower Ugashik
   

“Only someone who has done any winter travel in remote areas up here
can appreciate what is involved on a simple trip.”

 

   We live 30 miles upstream from the Village of Ugashik on the outlet of Lower Ugashik Lake and travel on the frozen Ugashik River as our ice highway to get our mail and groceries in the winter. When I attempted to make a trip earlier I broke through the ice with my 4-wheeler, promptly sunk up to my neck and was treated with the ultimate embarrassment of being towed home by my wife. This lead me to purchase what I thought of at the time as the ultimate machine -an amphib Argo. After several snows I put the tracks on the Argo and headed toward the village.

 

   What I didn't realize was there had been several heavy wet snows that occurred about 15 miles west of us toward the village and it resulted in about 18" of overflow and just about enough ice to hold the Argo. I had gotten across the river and was on a cross country segment of the trip when I broke through the first time. I spent several hours getting out of the first breakthrough and like a fool continued on because I was only about 10 miles from the village.
   The next time I went through it was on a small lake and after several more hours I realized I was had. With the temp at -10 the snowmobile suit I had on froze up quickly and it didn't take long to exhaust me wading in 18" of slush. I got on the VHF and called the rescue squad which arrived from the village with three snowmobiles. We were able to pull the Argo out and was able to get it to the next lake where it went through again. With the darkness and the temps falling this time it froze up the tracks and I knocked reverse out of the transmission. There was just enough ice on top of the overflow to hold the snowmobiles but not the extra weight of the Argo
   That is when we gave up and they hauled me back to the village on snowmobile. I hadn't realized the toll hypothermia had taken until we reached the village and had to be pulled off the snowmobile because I just wanted to set there and sleep. By the next day the Argo was really froze in and the recovery effort began. Because we had some unusually cold temps for this area(-40) the ice was very thick and made recovery very difficult. By now all of Bristol Bay had heard about it and the locals wanted me to move it to the river so they could use it for ice fishing. The very cold temps were followed by some very warm temps and heavy rain and I became concerned that the Argo could fill with water and capsize. Since we were stopped by poor ice conditions I had a friend from the village tie two fuel drums on the Argo for flotation.

 

 

   When I could pick my way through the river ice by skiff I got within two miles of it and walked in. I got a line on it the first trip. The second trip the ice was so bad I used lumber I packed in to crawl on out to the Argo and got it chopped free from the ice but couldn't get it up on the ice. The third trip I made was a real bear because the ice was out of the tundra and it made the walk in real interesting. When I got to the lake the Argo was in a small opening in the ice and the ice was out around the perimeter of the lake. I had made up my mind this was the last trip in and I wasn't going to leave without it.

 

   I had packed a sledge in and started breaking up the ice on the edge and then pulled on the rope and moved the Argo and the remaining ice closer. Each time I would break more ice and pull and I finally got it close enough to shore. Since the remaining forward gears in the transmission were questionable I removed the tracks and was able to drive it to the river.
   I came back the next day with my landing craft and drove it home where I repaired the transmission. Piece of cake. Total elapsed time for the trip 4 1/2 months. Lessons learned- when they advertise a unit as go anywhere they don't mention the return trip for obvious reasons.

Ugashik Bob
Written January 2003

(For all who don’t know what a landing craft boat looks like here is a photo from Bob. Although this was taken at a different time, you can imagine the Argo being hauled home.)

Thanks Bob for telling us your story. It definitely deserves recognition and nomination for the 2003 “Scupper of the Year” Award!

 

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